Economist Ben Stein: Taxes on the Rich Are Too Low

Conservative economist Ben Stein told panelists on “Fox & Friends” that the government doesn’t just have a spending problem, it also has a “too low taxes problem.”

“I hate to say this on Fox – I hope I’ll be allowed to leave here alive – but I don’t think there is any way we can cut spending enough to make a meaningful difference, we’re going to have to raise taxes on very, very rich people. People with incomes of, say, $2, $3, $4 million a year and up. And then slowly, slowly, slowly move it down. $250,000 a year, that’s not a rich person.”

“With all due respect to Fox, who I love like brothers and sisters, taxes are too low,” he added.

Ben Stein: “It is Bowles-Simpson. The evidence is that there is no clear connection between the level of taxation and the level of economic activity. The biggest growth and prosperity we’ve ever had in this country was from roughly 1941 to 1973. That was the best years we’ve ever had and those were years of much higher taxes than we have now.”